In many instances it is desirable to prevent plant life from growing in certain areas, such as adjacent to buildings, under fences, or the like, Lawns often extend to buildings or under fences so that it is necessary to trim the lawn adjacent to the building or under the fence. Ordinarily, a mechanical lawnmower is used to cut grass to a uniform height to give a lawn a pleasing appearance. Heretofore, when the grass was cut, the grass plants next to a fence, or building, would not be cut by the lawnmower because the lawnmower could not get close enough to the fence or building. The result was that it was necessary to cut the grass adjacent to a fence or building with a trimming device. Although trimming devices are effective, they are time consuming and in case of manually operated devices, they are very tiring for an operator.
The utilization of extruded plastic edging strips to create a border between a lawn and other vegetation or growing area is well known. A patent showing this general concept is U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,786 to Rynberk. The Rynberk disclosure teaches edging which is buried in the ground to keep plant life separated. However, Rynberk does not teach the concept of preventing any plant life from growing in given areas. What Rynberk does teach is the concept of separating plants so that grass does not grow into an area, such as, a flower garden.
It is well known that for a plant to grow, the plant generally must have a supporting surface, such as, soil, water and light. If a plant does not have water and light, the plant will not grow. The utilization of plastic sheeting to cover an area to prevent plant life from growing is well known. It is recognized that if it is desirable to eliminate the growth of plant life, an elongated strip, such as, the Traffic Marking Strip disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,928,447 to Cornell, Jr. may be utilized to eliminate plant growth.
The need is recognized for providing an elongated plastic strip which may be buried into the ground which strip also has a cap portion. The cap portion prevents plant life from growing through the cap portion or around it. Thus, a strip of this type may be positioned adjacent to a wall, or a building, or a fence, to prevent grass or other vegetation from growing immediately adjacent to the wall, building or fence.